E.D.Pa.: Search incident of cellphone after defendant rejected snitching was still reasonable

The defendant was arrested on drug charges, and the police let him keep his cellphone while they discussed the possibility he would snitch for them. When it became apparent he wouldn’t snitch, they took the cellphone and searched it. It was still incident to the arrest. United States v. Georgiou, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114729 (E.D. Pa. December 7, 2009):

As previously stated, Agent Joanson testified that at the time Georgiou was placed into custody on September 17, 2008, the Government believed that there was a possibility that Georgiou would cooperate with the FBI and “make recordings against other targets.” (N.T. at 41-42.) The reason why Georgiou was not segregated from his devices, according to Agent Joanson, was because the FBI “like[s] to have the individual to have their cell phone or their Blackberry so that when they call these other targets, they have their own equipment and their own phone number.” (Id. at 42.) Agent Joanson further explained that “when it became less and less likely that Mr. Georgiou was going to cooperate in that fashion, we separated him from his electronic devices.” (Id.) In light of Agent Joanson’s testimony, the Court finds that the delay in seizing Georgiou’s devices was entirely reasonable under the circumstances.